What the Media and Never Trump GOP Still Don't Get About Kari Lake in Arizona

Kari Lake is going to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona. It’s not official yet, but her camp is confident that whatever outstanding votes will break her way. There doesn’t appear to be enough of the vote left for her opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson, to reclaim the lead. Robson was leading for most of the night Tuesday. Currently, the map shows her winning only Maricopa County which is moving like molasses in tallying the rest of the ballots. Even anti-Lake pundits are conceding on social media that she will be the nominee. The former journalist smeared by the media as a conspiracy theorist peddler and all-around nutcase pulled ahead in Wednesday's early morning hours.

Lake became known as the candidate who trashed liberal outlets like CNN right to their faces. She clinched Donald Trump's endorsement, and her eventual win is a gentle reminder to the Never Trump wing of the Republican Party that it’s time to pack up shop. The fight for the heart and soul of the party did happen in 2016, and this side lost. If 2022 has shown anything, it’s that the Republican Party underwent a seismic shift in 2016. It’s the party of Donald Trump. How Arizona Republicans voted in Tuesday’s primary is illustrative of that adjustment.

Now, was Lake always a die-hard Trump Republican? Hell no. There are a ton of converts. I don't care if she was a former Obama supporter. The media once again fails to dig deeper into the new GOP base. There are millions of Obama-Trump voters. Also, a solid chunk of Trump's base identifies as economically progressive, though the cultural issues and immigration prevent them from veering into the Democrat camp. In the weeks before primary day, Fox News ran a piece on Lake's anti-Trump days:

An Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate backed by Donald Trump shared a post on Facebook stating that Trump was "Not My President" just days before the former president's inauguration in 2017.
The anti-Trump post from Kari Lake's account read, "Will you be protesting the inauguration? If so, which of these suggestions will you adopt? Will you boycott TV coverage? Wear black? Donate money the ACLU, NAACP or Planned Parenthood? Use the hashtag #NotMyPresident? Will you unfollow Donald Trump?"
After Fox News Digital requested a statement from the Kari Lake for Governor campaign, the post disappeared from her page.
[...]
The Facebook post was accompanied by a meme that appears to have been sent to Lake by one of her Facebook followers. The meme referred to Trump's Inauguration Day as a "National Day of Mourning and Protest."
"This is very clearly a news-anchor's post; reporting that there was outrage against President Trump's election and asking if people were going to visibly protest his inauguration as the meme suggests. To make anything more out of it is just silly," a spokesperson for Lake's campaign told Fox News Digital.

It's not the best look, but you would think by now that the media gets that everyone hates them. Progressives feel the legacy media is in the tank for establishment Democrats. Conservatives view all media as a bunch of lying Democrats. The Russian collusion hoax and nonstop anti-Trump coverage convinced many to consider anything peddled by these folks with skepticism and suspicion. Unless it’s something heinous, no one cares. In Ohio, Republican U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance was not kind to Trump. He’ll probably win the election. The media needs to stop telling people whom to vote for in elections, but they keep trying and motivating voters to back whoever isn’t in the good graces of the national press. Also, the holier-than-thou Republicans need to shut it since everyone sees through their act. Do they think it wasn’t until Trump that people changed opinions due to the political winds? By default, voters view politicians as corrupt snake oil salesmen. For the most part, they’re right.

If Lake wins tonight, she is currently polling around 10-12 points behind the Democratic candidate, Katie Hobbs. That is a LOT of runway to make up. I don't know why it hasn't occurred to the Arizona GOP that Arizona is filled with independents and free thinkers... https://t.co/hRLtiEiWnQ
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 3, 2022

Kari Lake will most likely win despite the fact that she was a lifelong progressive liberal, maxed out to Obama for her entire life. All she had to do was vomit up MAGA talking points and people bought it. She is a fraud, a conspiracy theorist, and not up to the character of Gov. https://t.co/0QIgGv7VDF
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 3, 2022

I see my initial predictions were right despite the initial excitement of Robson pulling ahead -

Congratulations to my home state for full making the transition to full blown MAGA/conspiracy theory/fraudster.

The voters have spoken - be careful what you wish for…
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 3, 2022